Indicates that hearing stories read aloud in their native languages did not interfer with ESL children's reading achievement in English, and there were many benefits from having parents read those stories in a school setting. (FL)

Using sixth-grade students, a study examines (1) relationships between background knowledge and passage comprehension, (2) relative usefulness of certain variations in measuring available knowledge, (3) value of a background measure as applied to a teacher-directed small group prereading language and concept organizer activity, and (4) effect of a…

Describes a summer school computer-assisted reading program and reports on differences in student attitudes, time on task, and skill mastery resulting from either teacher-based instruction or a combination of computer-assisted and teacher-based instruction. (AEA)

Points out, by citing a recently completed longitudinal study at the University of Iowa, that children are more likely to discover how reading works and make it work for them if the book is not too hard. (EL)

Two experiments were conducted to examine the possibility that varying college students' methods of encoding advance organizers would influence the memorability of the organizers and subsequent reading materials. Results indicated that students dealing with the semantic base of organizers had significantly greater memory for the organizers and…

Reports on a study that investigated which of four modes of reading (oral reading to an audience, oral reading to oneself, silent reading, silent reading while listening) best facilitates fifth-grade students' comprehension. Concludes that for these students as a whole, comparable comprehension may be expected when they read to themselves or read…

Addresses both reading researchers and reading teachers, urging them to cooperate in relating research to classroom practice. (HOD)

Indicates that students who received organizational instruction wrote better summaries than did students who received traditional instruction. (FL)

Relates that students taking required courses in teaching content reading at the secondary school level were largely satisfied with the course content and felt the courses would help them in their teaching. (HOD)

Studies how children negotiate the meaning of literature by examining how they responded when given the opportunity to retell a story directly after hearing it. (DF)

Supports predictions concerning two consequences of combining merit pay and other business practices within a reading program: (1) that school personnel would constrict their definitions of reading and reading instruction to those prescribed by district policy and that (2) teachers would consider reading instruction less fulfilling than they did…

Advocates the point of view that teachers should take the responsibility of maintaining personal professional libraries and discussing theory in order to increase their effectiveness. (DF)

Presents abstracts of two award winning studies, one dealing with spelling in the context of writing for a purpose, the other with student-teacher interaction during reading. (FL)

Notes the major historical works or chronicles on college reading and study skills instruction and proposes 10 directions for further historical research. (HOD)

Argues that instructional decisions may be affected by the conflict produced when teachers' curricular perceptions do not match those that underlie a recommended teaching strategy and presents an ideological framework for comparing secondary reading goals and their related curricula. (FL)